The prime minister has told the House of Commons that co-operative principles will be “at the heart” of his plans for a National Care Service.
Andy Burnham made his comment during Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday (14 October).
Labour/Co-op MP Jack Abbott, in a question to the PM, said: “I’m sure we were all incredibly moved by the prime minister’s tribute to his late father, at the Labour Party conference, and can I pass on my personal condolences to him and his family.
“During the prime minister»s speech, I also thought about my own grandparents, two former teachers with decades of public service. But when they needed looking after, they had to go through their savings and their pension just to receive the care my granny needed. And I’m sure that’s a story that resonates with thousands of people…
“And that is because we have a care system that puts profit before people, leaving behind not only the people who depend on this service, but the incredible people who work within it as well.
“So can I, as a Labour and Co-operative MP, ask our country’s first Labour and Co-operative prime minister whether he’ll consider a co-operative approach to social care so we can finally put people before profit.”
Burnham replied: “Any family in this country who has lived through the journey – through dementia, and experiencing the social care system – will know that we should not accept the status quo and the failure of this house to fix social care through the decades … does not reflect well on any party in this house.
“We will fix it. We will create a National Care Service. And in laying out that path to the National Care Service, I can give him my word as the Labour and Co-operative MP for Makerfield that co-operative principles will be at the heart of the new National Care Service.”
Critics of the existing care system, with its reliance on for-profit outsourcing companies, have long pointed to “capital extraction”.
Last year, a report by Reclaiming Our Regional Economies (RORE) – a partnership of organisations including Co-operatives UK – studied social care provision in the North East, South Yorkshire and West Midlands combined authority regions between 2021 and 2024.
Related: Report highlights potential of co-op model in the UK
It found that private care companies operating in those regions made £256m in profit over three years, with more than a third owned by private equity firms, companies based in tax havens, or both.
Burnham himself has previously criticised the for-profit care system, telling Co-op Congress in 2022: “The profit motive does not sit well with care of any kind – that’s the problem. The more complex the needs, the more that profit motivation becomes a problem. This is a broken system.”
Similar calls have come from co-ops working in the social care system. At the 2025 conference of the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network, Emma Back from Equal Care Co-op urged local authorities to offer co-operative social care instead of letting outsourcers extract capital from their communities.
Questions remain over Burnham’s plans, with the Conservative Party claiming the National Care Service will cost more than £18bn by the mid 2030s, while savings from ending the pension triple lock may only amount to £4bn a year.
The co-op sector continues to make representations. This month, Co-operatives Wales made its submission to the Independent Commission into Adult Social Care.
The apex wants to see “democratic ownership, prevention and retention of public value central to social care reform”.
“Although its remit concerns adult social care in England, Welsh experience offers important lessons,” wrote David Smith from Co-operatives Wales. “Reform must respect devolution while learning across borders and addressing relationships between adult care, children’s services, family support and transitions into adulthood.”
A key argument made by proponents of the co-op model is that it will deliver economic benefits by removing the profit motive – but, warns Co-operatives Wales, this is not guaranteed without solid governance provisions,
Critiquing capital extraction by the private sector, the apex says: “Profit, interest, related-party rent and management charges require separate scrutiny. Commissioners should disclose ultimate ownership, financial flows, executive remuneration and spending on frontline provision. Public funding must strengthen care rather than reward opaque financial structures.”
Related: Co-op Congress looks at questions round social care
But while “research supports the case for retaining value locally; it does not prove that extraction never occurs anywhere in the co-operative sector,” it adds. “Co-operative identity must therefore be tested through ownership, governance, financial transparency and actual practice. Surpluses retained for service improvement, fair remuneration and resilience should be distinguished from value transferred away from care for external private gain.”
Cooperatives Wales also calls for recognition of the Fair Care Mark as “a framework for advancing high-quality, inclusive and accountable social care”.
Discussing the mark, it adds: “Developed through the work of the Co-operative Guild of Social and Community Workers, its foundations lie in co-operative practice, community participation and the experience of people receiving and providing care.
“Its emphasis on co-production, co-delivery and co-ownership connects the quality of support with the distribution of power within services.”
In its submission, Co-operatives Wales also raises concerns “from sector experience that preferred voluntary and community providers receive access, investment and premises while co-operatives are overlooked”.
The apex wants steps taken to remedy this, alongside ensuring co-ops are given fair access to community asset opportunities.
And it warns: “Class prejudice can influence whose expertise is recognised: polished bids and institutional connections may outweigh working-class knowledge and lived experience. Commissioners must challenge these assumptions and assess equality impacts, accessibility and human-rights implications.
“Dignity, autonomy, family life and protection from discrimination should guide provision. The public sector equality duty requires due regard; co-operative status alone does not demonstrate compliance.”
A key recommendation from the apex is to “establish a co-operative care programme governed with existing providers, development agencies and people drawing on care.”
In July, Tabitha Hamilton, Co-operatives UK’s local policy analyst, said: “The debate about social care shouldn’t be framed as a choice between public and private provision. Co-operatives, social enterprises and community-led organisations are already showing that it is possible to deliver high-quality care while reinvesting in workers, communities and better services, rather than extracting profits.
“Our members Cartrefi Cymru Co-operative and Equal Care Co-op demonstrate what this looks like in practice. They put relationships, dignity and worker wellbeing at the heart of care, while keeping wealth circulating locally. As the government considers the future of social care, these models should be recognised as an essential part of the solution.”
